Nibs and Cats?
by jolly roger brat
Summary: Here's a question: What if Nibs liked cats instead of rats? Both as an animal, and in Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic Broadway musical!


The Lost Boys had noticed that Nibs was exhausted every day. He always tried to hide it, but there was always a tattletale fairy that followed him whenever he went scouting, and told Peter that he was sleeping when he was supposed to be looking for any signs of trouble.

Peter was suspicious that his second-in-command wasn't pulling his weight, but Nibs managed to cover for himself, saying he hadn't been feeling well, or he was busy helping someone who needed him and it had made him too tired.

One evening, when Tinkerbell was asleep, Nibs was able to sneak undetected out of the Underground House. '_Yes!'_ he thought, '_The perfect crime.'_ Around 1:30 in the morning, he came back tired again; he managed to make it to the bed, but he fell asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

Slightly noticed the change in his appearance. He saw dark circles under Nibs' eyes that made him look like an older version of Tootles. He sometimes saw him stagger into the Underground House as if he was too tired to fly. He even heard him humming or singing strange and catchy songs to himself. "Nibs, is there something you want to talk about?" he asked.

Nibs stifled a yawn. "Slightly, I've got a really important thing I have to take care of. I promise I'll tell you everything, but right now...I've...got to...go..." Before he could finish, he fell asleep.

Slightly caught him before he hit the ground. "You're slightly not going anywhere. I'll take care of your scouting for you," he said as he helped Nibs onto the bed.

When Slightly returned, Nibs was awake and feeling better, and after he was filled in on what had gone on during the afternoon, said, "Thanks a lot, Slightly. I owe you one, and you deserve an explanation. Can you come with me to Small Monday Island tonight?"

"Sure. What's going on?" Slightly asked.

"You'll see. It's amazing, and you'll see why I've been so tired lately." Nibs replied.

That night, the two boys headed out for Small Monday Island. "The theater?" Slightly asked when they stopped at a building on the far end of the island.

"That's right. Like I said, I'll tell you everything," Nibs started.

Suddenly, he was cut off by a voice calling, "Mr. Mistoffelees! You're early! As usual."

"Veda-I mean, Victoria!" Nibs answered, "I brought a friend with me. This is Slightly. I told him I'd tell him my secret, and I invited him to watch us rehearse," He then turned to Slightly. "I'm sure you remember Veda Sicily from the fair. She's playing Victoria this time."

"Victoria? And why did she call you Mr. Mistoffelees?" Slightly asked after he and Veda shook hands, "Nibs, what's going on here?"

"Come into my dressing room, sit down, and as I get my costume on, I'll tell you," Nibs replied, and as he changed into a black ensemble, he explained, "It started a month ago. I was flying near Small Monday Island when I heard music. I went to explore, when I heard someone yelling. I came in here to ask if I could help, and this man, who was the director of a play called Cats, said yes. He also said I was the right size to fit into the actor's costume. The actor who played a character named Mr. Mistoffelees was injured, and couldn't be in the show anymore. His understudy had another role, so he needed someone else for the part. I've been filling in for him every night, and I've been doing all my scouting in the morning. Sometimes, I couldn't get free because Tink would follow me, and I'd have to take a shortcut to get here. I always got here on time, but it's been hard for me to lead this double life." Nibs paused, and as he put white grease paint on his face, he added, "Sometimes I feel as if I'm Macavity instead of Mr. Mistofelees because I'm being so sneaky, going behind Peter's back." When he saw Slightly giving him a strange look, he assured him as he started stretching, "And don't worry. When you watch us, and during intermission, you'll learn the names."

Before the show, Slightly was ushered into the auditorium, and offered a front-row seat. "Wow! You can slightly see everyone and everything from up here!" he said softly.

"That's the idea. I sat there when I first saw it, and another character said that the front row offers the best view," Nibs replied as he went to join the cast.

Soon, Slightly was wrapped up in the amazing story. Lights flashed around him, music blared, and the characters displayed exuberance in the different wild dances. "It's slightly incredible," he said to Nibs during intermission. "I've never seen anything like this, and how many plays were we forced into doing?"

"I know. It's amazing. How do you like it so far?" Nibs replied.

"One cat has a particular fascination with disco, which is pretty good in his routines. I hate that one cat in the slightly ugly coat (but it was hilarious when you kept poking her with that fake weapon), the large one is a mix of Mason, Cookson, and Hook with an intellect to rival Smee, and what's the deal with the character who everyone tries to avoid?" Slightly asked.

"Thanks. I try to follow my routine, but I sneak a few disco moves in," Nibs said as he adopted the 'Saturday Night Fever' pose, then he started explaining about everything in the order Slightly had talked about. "Everyone here hates the person who plays Jennyanydots, the Gumbie Cat (prissy little know-it-all; can you say older Girl in the Moon?), Bustopher Jones thinks he knows everything, and Grizabella has an interesting story to her, but sometimes even I don't understand it."

"That's right," Veda, the actress who had spoken with Nibs when they came, said to them, "Grizabella left the Jellicle Cats long ago to explore the outside world, and wants to return to us. However, we've had hard lives while she's had it easy, and we don't take it very well."

"Okay," Slightly nodded, "but what's with you and that one cat? You slightly know who I mean!" he added, elbowing Nibs' side.

"Jellylorum?" Nibs asked, blushing faintly beneath his makeup. "She's incredible! I don't know why I like her so much, but I always get the urge to kiss her when I see her! I just wish she and I could go somewhere where we can make some _real_magic."

Meanwhile, the cast heard Nibs say how much he liked Jellylorum, and they decided to go out for mild revenge, because they knew that he had been harmlessly flirting with her during rehearsals. "We'll have some fun with him after the final performance," they all agreed.

Later, Slightly and Nibs came back to the Underground House. Nibs had removed his makeup and costume, changing into his normal attire, and they fell asleep without anyone noticing they had gone.

"That was the most slightly incredible thing I've ever seen," Slightly said to him the next day, "I want you to have all the time you need for it. And don't worry," he added, seeing Nibs open his mouth to protest, "I'll take care of your scouting for you."

"So you're going to be like an acting second-in-command?" Nibs asked.

"No; you're the acting second-in-command; I'm slightly your understudy...like in real life," Slightly teased him.

Finally, after several more weeks of Slightly going scouting and Nibs sneaking off, the day came for Peter to learn Nibs' secret. Slightly had been given front-row tickets to the performance, and he gave them to everyone in the Underground House, saying that he won them in a karaoke contest on Small Monday Island. Nibs himself said he couldn't make it; he was "going scouting" and wouldn't be back until late.

At first, Michael was afraid of the characters in their wild costumes when they came up to him, but the black cat with the white face let him touch his fur as the cats sensed his fright and began to stretch in front of them.

"This is wonderful! They're so talented! And this one's very cute," Wendy said admiringly as the cat who wore a furry collar, named Rum Tum Tugger, danced with her during his routine, and then the same cat who let Michael touch him, named Mr. Mistoffelees, gave her a bunch of flowers during the big dance routine that took place during the Jellicle Ball.

"I know. I just wish I could fight that villain right there," Peter said during the fight scene between Macavity and the cats when Old Deuteronomy, the Jellicle leader, had been kidnapped.

"If you say so, Peter. But the magician cat who gave us our presents was able to save him," John agreed as Nibs brought him back with the infamous 'conjuring turn' mentioned in his song, and gave backstage passes to everyone in the Underground House.

Later, when Nibs took his final bow after performing for Peter and his friends, he was going backstage to his dressing room, congratulating himself on pulling everything off, and making plans for when he saw his friends again. "I gave everyone backstage passes during my routine, and now I'll just-hey!" he gasped as the cast ganged up on him.

Four of them took his wrists and ankles, two more covered his ears, and two more covered his eyes. Nibs tried to yell for help, but another hand was placed over his mouth. He felt his back being pinned against something incredibly furry, and figured that Old Deuteronomy was part of whatever was going on. The actors carried their struggling prisoner to his dressing room, and laid him on the floor. When he was down, Nibs considered jumping up and running, but the cast pinned him down, ending that idea right away.

"This is going to be a lot of fun for all of us!" one actor laughed, as he and Veda took their hands away from Nibs' ears.

"And he was a pretty good sport about us capturing him," another actress grinned as she and another actor took their hands away from his eyes.

"What's going on here?!" Nibs yelled as Jellylorum's hand came away from his mouth.

"Just a little payback for all the times you were flirting with me!" she replied. "Get him!"

"Stop-hey! _Stop!_" Nibs started laughing as his fellow actors tickled him mercilessly. "Guys, I've got people coming down here!" he protested as he tried to squirm away.

"You should have thought of that before!" Veda teased him.

Peter and the others, hearing the laughter and shouts, went to investigate. "What's going on?" Peter asked, seeing everyone in a dressing room, tickling one of their fellow actors.

"Nothing that a little revenge wouldn't fix," Jellylorum said innocently.

Suddenly, Nibs' fur headpiece, which he had been taking off before he had been taken prisoner, came off as some of the actors roughed it up; revealing his blond hair.

Wendy also noticed the brown color of his sparkling eyes as he looked up. "Nibs? _You're_ Mr. Mistofellees?" she gasped as she watched him twitching under the cast's fingers.

"Peter, before you say anything, Slightly's been covering for me when I was supposed to be scouting," Nibs started after he got his breath back, then as he sat up, he told Peter, the Lost Boys, and Wendy the same story he had told Slightly. "I know I should have said something to you first, but you wouldn't have understood. I've always liked this musical, and I always wanted to be in it."

"Well, you did have someone fill in for you," Peter mused, "And you did tell me about it, so it's all right. But," Here, however, Nibs heard a considerable pause, and his mind began to race. "Like you said, I should have known about this first. And since you told me about this second, and after this happened, there's just one thing to say." Peter looked at the cast and asked, "Want to help us give him a second dose of revenge?"

"Oh no, not again!" Nibs groaned good-naturedly as the cast pinned him again. Soon, the hapless lost boy/actor was cracking up helplessly as the revenge went under way once more, this time with the assistance of Peter, Wendy, and the Lost Boys. No matter what, he was still happy. This had been the experience of a lifetime, and he'd never forget it.


End file.
